An exposure apparatus that exposes a semiconductor substrate with a circuit pattern, which is formed in a mask, uses a stage apparatus to position the mask and the semiconductor substrate. Advances in circuit miniaturization have brought about an increasing demand for greater positioning performance of the stage apparatus. Typically, the stage apparatus is mounted on a base plate, which is a mechanism that prevents the transmission of vibrations from, for example, the floor to the stage; furthermore, actuators are used both to prevent vibration of the base plate and to correct any tilt of the base plate and the stage that results from the off-centered load that is applied to the base plate based on the position of the stage thereon; thereby the attitude of the base plate is controlled.
With regard to a damping apparatus that uses actuators to control vibration as well as the tilt of the base plate, the conventionally adopted method measures the position of the base plate relative to the floor with a position sensor and performs feedback control to maintain zero displacement between the floor and the base plate. Nevertheless, the conventional controlling method cannot control either the vibration or the tilt of the base plate with sufficient accuracy, and, as a result, the positioning accuracy of the stage cannot be improved using such a method.
The present invention considers the abovementioned points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a damping apparatus capable of controlling both the vibration and the tilt of a base plate with high accuracy, and an exposure apparatus that uses the damping apparatus.